Jobs go at Auckland research company

A top research facility which focuses on diabetes treatment is to cut 36 jobs.

Diatranz Otsuka, which is half-owned by Auckland company Living Cell Technologies, has been developing a process in which pig cells are injected into Type 1 diabetics, potentially doing away with the need for insulin injections.

The company wants to get approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because with FDA certification, other countries are more likely to approve the process, making it more readily available, more quickly.

Chief executive Andrea Grant said that meant moving the project and clinical trials to America.

As a result 36 Auckland staff, including administrators, scientists and technicians will lose their jobs.

Diatranz Otsuka said those people understood the move is necessary to the success of the project and it believed they would easily find other work.